Improved Apparatus For Carrying Data Storage Carriers

ABSTRACT

An apparatus ( 10 ) for carrying one or more data storage carriers ( 12 ) for safe keeping and protecting against loss includes a lanyard ( 14 ) adapted to be worn around a body part of a person, such as the wrist or the neck. A split ring ( 18 ) is connected to the lanyard ( 14 ), and a desired number of tags ( 20 ) are connected to the split ring ( 18 ). Each tag ( 20 ) has an adhesive surface on one side for attaching a respective carrier thereto. The tag also has a hole ( 22 ) through which the split ring ( 18 ) passes to thereby connect the carrier ( 12 ) to the split ring ( 18 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an apparatus for carrying one or moreelectronic video game discs or other data storage carriers or memorydevices, such as game cards, flash memory cards or smart cards. Inparticular, the present invention relates to an apparatus that can beworn around the wrist or neck of a person and that carries for safekeeping and protecting against loss a plurality of video game cards,such as those marketed under the Nintendo DS brand.

Although the background, objects and preferred embodiments of theinvention will be hereinafter described with reference to an apparatusfor carrying data storage carriers, it is to be understood that theinvention is not limited thereto but has wider application.

It is to be understood that the terminology employed herein is for thepurpose of description only and should not be regarded as limiting. Forinstance, the terms “comprising” or “comprises” are to be understood asmeaning “including”, unless otherwise stated. Also, the term “carrier”is to be understood as including any small, portable device that can beused to store electronic data.

BACKGROUND ART

In the last decade, small portable data storage carriers in the form ofdigital memory discs or cards and memory sticks have become common placeas their host devices, namely, electronic video game consoles, digitalcameras, digital music players, mobile phones, personal digitalorganizers, and computers, have become smaller and increased theirmemory and data processing capacity.

However, the small size of such portable data storage carriers oftenleads to them being lost, misplaced or stolen, particularly when beingmoved from place to place, or when they are covered or obscured fromview by larger objects.

Various apparatus have been developed to assist people in carryingmemory cards from place to place.

For example, US Patent Application No. 09/902,578 (US Publication No.2003/0010829) discloses an apparatus in which a hole is formed throughflash memory cards and a string, lanyard or key ring passes through eachhole of the cards so that they are strung together on a common carrier.However, whilst this assists in keeping the memory cards together, thereis a danger that the holes may, when being formed, disrupt or interferewith the electronic and mechanical function of the cards. Furthermore,each hole may weaken the structure of the card and result in itsbreakage when excessive force is applied against the sides of the hole.Even more importantly, the item that passes through each hole mayprevent the card being properly inserted into its host device.

In another approach, small flash memory cards and game cards can bestored and carried within pockets formed in plastic or metal pouches orcases. These are not designed to be easily carried by a person, say,around the person's neck by a strap or the like, and so may be easilylost. Also the cards inside these kinds of containers are loose and somay be lost if the containers are left open or fall over.

To date, none of these prior art devices have been entirely successfulin preventing the loss, misplacement or theft of such portable datastorage carriers.

It has been found by the present inventor that these problems can beovercome by providing an apparatus that can be worn around a body partof a person and that carries for safe keeping and protecting againstloss a plurality of data storage carriers in a way that does notcompromise their function and structure.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome orsubstantially ameliorate the disadvantages and problems of theaforementioned prior art, or at least provide a useful alternative.

It has been found by the present inventor that these and other objectsof the invention may be achieved in general by providing an apparatusfor carrying one or more data storage carriers for safe keeping andprotecting against loss, the apparatus comprising a lanyard adapted tobe worn around a body part of a person, a split ring connected to thelanyard, and one or more tags connected to the split ring, the or eachtag having an adhesive surface for attaching a respective carrierthereto, the tag also having a hole through which the split ring passesto thereby connect the carrier to the split ring.

The adhesive surface of the tag may be provided at a lower part of oneside of the tag, and the hole may be provided through an upper part ofthe tag adjacent to the adhesive surface such that the tag, whenattached to the carrier, extends partly outwardly from the carrier.

The adhesive surface preferably has a protective peel-away cover.

Preferably, the adhesive surface of the tag is attached to the rear ofthe carrier.

In a preferred form, the body part is the wrist or the neck.

It is preferred that the split ring is hinged and has two semicirculararms extending from a hinge point, the extremities of each arm definingrespective first and second interengagable clip portions that are springbiased to assume an interengaged condition, with the clip portions beingseparable against the spring bias.

It is preferred that the split ring is a key ring, and that the key ringis connected to a J-swivel clip of the lanyard. A hinge ring may be usedas an alternative to the key ring.

Alternatively, the split ring is connected directly to the lanyard.

The tag is preferably made of a thin plastic sheet, and an annularregion around the hole may be reinforced against tearing. The tag issufficiently thin that it will not interfere with the insertion orremoval of the carrier from its host device.

There has been thus outlined, rather broadly, the more importantfeatures of the invention in order that the detailed description thereofthat follows may be better understood and put into practical effect, andin order that the present contribution to the art may be betterappreciated.

There are additional features of the invention that will be describedhereinafter. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that theconception, upon which the disclosure is based, may be readily utilizedas the basis for designing other assemblies and processes for carryingout the objects of the present invention. It is important, therefore,that the broad outline of the invention described above be regarded asincluding such equivalent constructions in so far as they do not departfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those setforth above will become apparent when consideration is given to thefollowing detailed description thereof. Such description makes referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an apparatus for carrying one or more datastorage carriers according to a preferred embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a preferred tag for use in the apparatusof FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an apparatus according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the invention.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

With reference now to the above summarized drawings of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3,an apparatus for carrying one or more data storage carriers embodyingthe principles and concepts of the present invention and generallydesignated by the reference numeral 10 will now be described.

The data storage carrier loss protecting apparatus 10 is shown in FIG. 1carrying, for ease of reference, a single data storage carrier 12 in theform of a game card.

The apparatus includes a lanyard 14 adapted to be worn around the neckof a person.

The lanyard has a J-swivel clip 16 to which a key ring 18 is connected.

A single tag 20 (also as shown individually in FIG. 2) made of a thinplastic sheet is connected to the key ring by a hole 22 provided throughan upper part of the tag and through which the key ring passes. Anannular region around the hole 22 is reinforced against tearing.

The tag has an adhesive surface 24 provided at a lower part of one sideof the tag which has a protective peel-away cover 26. After peeling awaythe cover 26, the tag is attached, via its adhesive surface, to the rearof the game card 12 such that the upper part of the tag extends partlyoutwardly from the game card. The rear of the game card should not havea label for the game affixed to it, to avoid damaging the label and thusreducing the resale value of the game card.

In this way, the game card 12 is connected via the tag 20 to the keyring 18 which is, in turn, connected to the lanyard 14. The tag 20 issufficiently thin that its connection to the game card will not, in use,interfere with the insertion or removal of the game card from its hostdevice.

For electronic game play, the lanyard 14 would be looped around theneck, or even the wrist, of the player and the game card 12 would beinserted into the slot of the game console. Wearing the lanyard does notinterfere with the playing of the game. When it is desired to replacethe game card, the player simply removes the game card from the consoleand inserts another game card from those connected to the key ring.

The data storage carrier 30 shown in FIG. 3 has a shorter length wristlanyard 32, a loop 34 of thin cord at its top, a hinged split ring 36connected at the bottom of the lanyard 32, and a pair of tags 38connected to the split ring 36 by a hole 40 provided through an upperpart of each tag.

The hinged split ring 36 has two semicircular arms extending from ahinge point 42. The extremities of each arm define respective first andsecond interengagable clip portions that are spring biased to assume aninterengaged condition, with the clip portions being separable againstthe spring bias.

It will be apparent to persons skilled in the art that the componentparts of the apparatus 10 and 30 may be made of many suitable materials.

It will also be readily apparent from the above that there are variousadvantages of the present invention.

One advantage is that, by using the apparatus of the present invention,it would be, compared with the prior art, much more difficult to lose,misplace or have stolen the portable data storage carriers connected tothe apparatus.

Another advantage is that there is no danger of disrupting orinterfering with the electronic and mechanical function of the datastorage carriers, and especially the capacity of the carriers to beproperly inserted into their host devices.

It will also be readily apparent to persons skilled in the art thatvarious modifications may be made in details of design and constructionof the embodiments of the data storage carrier loss protectingapparatus, and in the steps of using the apparatus described above,without departing from the scope or ambit of the present invention.

The reference in this specification to any prior publication (orinformation derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not,and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or admission or any formof suggestion that that prior publication (or information derived fromit) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in thefield of endeavour to which this specification relates before the filingdate of this patent application.

1. An apparatus for carrying one or more data storage carriers for safekeeping and protecting against loss, the apparatus comprising a lanyardadapted to be worn around a body part of a person, a split ringconnected to the lanyard, and one or more tags connected to the splitring, the or each tag having an adhesive surface for attaching arespective carrier thereto, the tag also having a hole through which thesplit ring passes to thereby connect the carrier to the split ring. 2.The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the adhesive surface of the tag isprovided at a lower part of one side of the tag, and the hole isprovided through an upper part of the tag adjacent to the adhesivesurface such that the tag, when attached to the carrier, extends partlyoutwardly from the carrier.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein theadhesive surface has a protective peel-away cover.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 3 wherein the adhesive surface of the tag is attached to the rearof the carrier.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the body part is thewrist or the neck.
 6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the split ring ishinged and has two semicircular arms extending from a hinge point, theextremities of each arm defining respective first and secondinterengagable clip portions that are spring biased to assume aninterengaged condition, with the clip portions being separable againstthe spring bias.